(Slide 1) We have spent this Advent season coming alongside Joseph and the Shepherds, experiencing an unforgettable Christmas play, and the hanging of our Christmas greens. This morning though we are going to make a stop at the most important place of Advent – the manger. (Slide 2)
Last week 27 of you graciously responded to my survey that asked ‘Which symbol is the most representative of Christmas?’ Here are the results: (Slide 3)
In fourth place with ‘zero’ votes was the candle! (Slide 3A)
In third place with one vote was the wreath! (Slide 3B)
In second place with four votes was the tree! (Slide 3C)
And in first place with 22 votes was the manger scene! (Slide 4)
After I had the survey printed I thought, ‘I should have had a dollar bill sign on the survey!’ If there had been a dollar bill or other kind of a money symbol, how many of you would have picked that one as the most representative symbol of Christmas?
Now, let me ask you, “What is the most definitive not representative symbol of Christmas?” It is not an object such as a tree or candle or wreath. It is not an event such as a sale or Black Friday (the big shopping day after Thanksgiving) or the gift-giving event of this weekend.
The most definitive and true symbol of Christmas is … the baby in the manger, the Christ child, Jesus Christ Himself! Everything we read in the Biblical account of Christmas centers around the birth of Jesus, the Messiah, our redeemer and savior!
No Jesus, no Christmas, it is as simple as that! And shopping and sales and gift giving and parties were not a part of that first and subsequent Christmas.
I did some checking this past week on the history and origins of Christmas and from the on-line encyclopedia, Encarta, I read, “… most scholars believe that Christmas originated in the 4th century as a Christian substitute for pagan celebrations of the winter solstice… Although the Gospels describe Jesus’ birth in detail, they never mention the date, so historians do not know on what date he was born. The Roman Catholic Church chose December 25 as the day for the Feast of the Nativity in order to give Christian meaning to existing pagan rituals... The Catholic Church hoped to draw pagans into its religion by allowing them to continue their revelry while simultaneously honoring the birthday of Jesus.”
The article continues, “Over the next 1000 years, the observance of Christmas followed the expansion of Christianity into the rest of Europe and into Egypt. Along the way, Christian beliefs combined with existing pagan feasts and winter rituals to create many long-standing traditions of Christmas celebrations…
Then when the Reformation took place in the 16th century or 1500’s and Christianity divided into two factions, Catholic and Protestant, the article indicates that “Protestants challenged the authority of the Catholic Church, including its toleration of surviving pagan traditions during Christmas festivities. For a brief time during the 17th century, Puritans banned Christmas in England and in some English colonies in North America because they felt it had become a season best known for gambling, flamboyant public behavior, and overindulgence in food and drink.”
It goes on to say that “in the United States and Canada, many elements of modern Christmas celebrations did not emerge until the 19th century. Before then Christmas had been an ordinary workday in many communities, particularly in New England, where early Puritan objections to Christmas celebrations remained highly influential.
Most holiday gifts were limited to small amounts of money and modest presents passed from the wealthy to the poor and from masters to their servants. Families almost never exchanged Christmas gifts among themselves.”
But, says the article, “Christmas gained increased prominence largely because many people believed it could draw families together and honor children. Giving gifts to children and loved ones eventually replaced the raucous public celebrations of the past, and Christmas became primarily a domestic holiday”… “Many holiday celebrants,” concludes the article, “regretted these changes, however, and began voicing the now common lament that Christmas had become too commercial.”
An interesting perspective in light of the current issues regarding the secularization of Christmas.
There is probably much that makes us shake our head at and say, ‘it is too commercial and we easily lose sight of the importance of the holiday.’ This leads me back to the manger.
There were no malls back then. There was no Santa Claus, or office parties or white elephant gift exchange. There was only the birth of Jesus.
I spoke with someone this past week that went to see ‘The Nativity.’ I asked them what they thought of it. Their answer was that they did not see how Joseph and Mary survived that journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem.
But we need to turn to the manger for a couple of moments and see what is there because it leads us to Jesus, the most important part of Christmas.
(Slide 5)
(Slide 5a) First of all there is commitment at the manger.
Joseph, says Matthew in his gospel account, was ‘a just man.’ Though he had every legal right to divorce Mary because of her pre-marital pregnancy, he obeyed the Lord and kept his commitment and vows to her and became Jesus’ earthly father.
Mary expressed her commitment to Joseph and God, as we read in Luke’s gospel account, when the angel Gabriel came to her and told her, “You will become pregnant and have a son, and you are to name him Jesus,’ and she simply and faithfully responds, “I am the Lord’s servant, and I am willing to accept whatever he wants. May everything you have said come true.”
Commitment is present at the manger in the two most important people in young Jesus’ earthly life; commitment to one another, commitment to raising Jesus, and commitment to obey the Lord and fulfilling His plan and purposes.
But their commitments were costly. Both risked their reputations to become the earthly parents of Jesus. I recently was reminded of how costly their commitments were when I read the following from the pen of Rueben P. Job:
“Mary made this incredible leap of faith and offered herself without qualification to God for whatever God chose to bring into her life... The risk to her reputation, the commitment of faith to an unknown path, the simple trust that God would provide today and tomorrow were not unlike the ingredients of our decision to offer ourselves to God without qualification.” I would suggest that the same held true for Joseph.
I encourage each of us to re-commitment ourselves to the Lord, one another, and our families and give the gift of ourselves through our commitment this holiday season as we give our gifts to one another
(Slide 5b) Also present at the manger was love.
Now to some it might seem incredible that love was present at manger. After all it had been a hard journey for the young pregnant woman and her fiancé’. Not just the distance that was required was an issue but so were her physical condition and his emotional state at having to travel to his ancestral home because politics required it! Then there was the haunting realization that ‘it was not mine’ and the possible tension that it caused between them.
But love was there and we only have to read Luke 2:19 to see evidence of love at the manger, “Mary quietly treasured these things in her heart and thought about them often.”
Love is there in the commitment. Passion? Would you be passionate if you had had the same experience of a long and tough journey followed by having a baby? I don’t think so!
Can you imagine Joseph showing Mary a passionate look of interest only to be met with a sharp daggered look that says, ‘Don’t even think about that right now!’
But I remember that love was present in the birth room when Jonathon and Daniel was born. You can see it in the pictures of Susan and I. Those of us who are parents know what I am talking about, right?
The love of a child drew them together.
(Slide 5c) Finally, redemption is present at the manger.
Both Mary and Joseph hear words, directly and indirectly, that imply redemption, salvation. Joseph hears that the child within Mary “will save his people from their sins.” Mary hears, “You will become pregnant and have a son, and you are to name him Jesus.”
The name ‘Jesus’ is a Greek word that means ‘Joshua’ which means ‘the Lord saves.’ It sometimes is pronounced ‘Yeshiva.” But Mary understood what it meant.
In that manger was a person who would redeem the world and who would give humanity the opportunity to be forgiven of things that bring guilt and shame. What is greater than the gift of forgiveness?
I like what Dietrich Bonhoffer wrote about Advent: “Advent creates new men and women. Look up, you whose eyes are fixed on this earth, you who are captivated by events and changes on the surface of this earth. Look up, you who turned away from heaven to this ground because you had become disillusioned. Look up, you whose eyes are laden with tears, you who mourn the loss of all that the earth has snatched away. Look up, you who cannot lift up your eyes because you are so laden with guilt. “Look up, your redemption is drawing near.”
“Something different than you see daily,” Bonhoffer goes onto say, “something more important, something infinitely greater and more powerful is taking place. Become aware of it, be on guard, wait a short while longer, wait and something will now overtake you! God will come, Jesus will take possession of you and you will be redeemed people!
Lift up your heads, your army of the afflicted, the humbled, the discouraged, you defeated army with bowed heads. The battle is not lost, the victory is yours – take courage, be strong! There is no room for shaking your heads and doubting, because Christ is coming!’
The angels did not announce to the shepherds that night, “Hey, there’s a sale at Macy’s!” The star did not lead the Wise Men to an early sale with 50% off select items. The announcement and the star announced redemption – a far greater gift than anything that we receive this weekend.
The Christmas story is about our second chance; God’s second chance for humanity!
Today, I deeply wish for you the following things:
(Slide 6) A greater and deeper desire and ability to maintain and deepen your commitments to the Lord, your family, and others that God has place in your life.
Last night we watched the animated movie “Barnyard.” It was funny but made the very important point about the need for taking on necessary and vital commitments. Probably the key line in the entire movie was ‘It takes a strong man to stand up for himself. It takes a stronger one to stand up for others.’
We have many important commitments to keep because God has made such commitments an important and necessary part of our life. My wish and prayer for you is that you will have the willingness and ability to keep and deepen those commitments even when they are stretched to the breaking point by circumstances and the choices of others.
I also wish for you (slide 7) a consistent and healthy experience of a love that is not here today and gone tomorrow. Joseph did not abandon Mary and Mary did not reject God’s plan for her and because they stayed true to another and the Lord they experienced a healthy and consistent love that all of us need. May the love of God be an important part of your Christmas and New Year’s experiences this week.
Finally, I wish for you (slide 8) God’s second chance – salvation and forgiveness. In other words, REDEMPTION! We all need second chances.
Friday night, we saw ‘A Night at the Museum.’ Again it was a humorous movie that had an important point about the need for second chances especially for a dad who was losing his son’s respect.
One of my favorite contemporary Christian songs is by Phillips, Craig, and Dean. In it they sing, ‘He believes in lost causes.’ Some of us here, after the week or month that some of us have had, probably feel like a lost cause.
Others of us have been feeling that way because of choices we have made that we wish we could change but we can’t right now. And we feel overwhelmed by guilt and shame.
None of us are lost causes! As the Bible says, ‘For all have sinned…’ that word ‘sin’ means to have ‘missed the mark.’ The mark is internal perfection and none of us are perfect. All of us have missed the mark of God’s perfection but the manger reminds us that God broke in to our existence and made it possible for us to be forgiven and given a second chance. I wish this for you this holiday season!
God has not given up on you! He looks for you to come home! Do so!
(Slide 9)What I wish for you then, what we find at the manger, commitment, love, and redemption… (Slide 9a) is what Jesus has made possible for you! May each of us experience them this day and week… and from this point forward. Merry Christmas! Amen.
Sources:
Information about the history and origins of Christmas was found at http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761556859/Christmas.html
Power Points for this sermon are available by e-mailing me at pastorjim46755@yahoo.com and asking for ‘122406slides’ Please note that all slides for a particular presentation may not be available.
